Hooks: Against the Giants

I limped away from the cloud of dust and debris that had formerly been a Thayan stronghold, and for what felt like the millionth time I assured myself that I would never again interfere in the affairs of the dread Red Wizards. Their Doomvault was gone and yet somehow I knew that no amount of therapy (short of, perhaps, a potent remove curse spell from a friendly wizard) would ever erase those memories from my mind.

Little did I know that that my next adventure was much closer than I expected.

Not even a full tenday after my horrific ordeal I would hear opportunity knocking upon my door once more. I had slumped into a somewhat-soggy and oversized chair in the Laughing Goblin in Phlan when I overheard a group of Zhentish mercenaries loudly calling out to each other with what they would do with “the giant’s loot”. I listened intently – we all did, really, as the Zhents were thoroughly inebriated and were making no indication of hiding this information – as they spoke in great (if slurred) detail about the steading of the Hill Giant Chief, and how they would be striking out along the road in the morning. The halls of the giants were nestled in the Galena Mountains, which were visible along the horizon far to the east.

The group of hooligans and thugs eventually succumbed to the drink and passed out, and only a few moments passed before I felt the point of a dagger at my ribs and heard a gruff “Dove, you will come with me if you want to survive to see the dawn.”

I know Harper code when I hear it, and I know many of the operatives in that esteemed organization. Those Who Harp are not as secret as they pretend to be, but this musky half-orc was new to me. Whether he was indeed a Harper or simply pretending I could not be certain, but he introduced himself and ushered me outside where he hurriedly assembled gear on his horse while explaining that the giants had “significant plans” underway and that there was “a dangerous game to play”. He grinned at first, but that became a scowl when he realized that I had not made any indication of taking to horseback myself.

After a long moment of locked eyes and cocked eyebrows, he grunted something in the spidery language of the Art and that was the last thing I knew.

I awoke some time later, strapped to my horse and surrounded by the half-orc and his allies. He was accompanied by two dwarves and an elf; all but the elf wore Harper pins on their lapels, while the sharp-eared one wore no badge of association from what I could tell. My surroundings were familiar and not wholly unexpected: slightly mountainous with a sharp rise to the east and a phenomenal view of the Moonsea to the south and west. I knew where I was even before they told me.

“The Galena Mountains, priest. You’re coming with us.” The half-orc untied my wrists and forced a smile. “My apologies for the rough handling, but this one” he pointed at the elf “told us of what happened in the Doomvault. The miracles you channeled.”

I didn’t recognize the elf, but there were many prisoners freed during my trip. I couldn’t easily dismiss it, and the half-orc continued:

“Chief Nosnra of the hill giants isn’t expecting us, and this is not an assault on their steading. Those Zhents would’ve doomed us all had they not consumed my, er, enhanced libations. The chief is an immense creature in power, stature, and will, but is by no means a wise leader. However, we’ve gathered insight on their activities that seems to indicate that something more is at play – something dark.”

One of the dwarves fished a shortsword out from under several layers of oiled leather. The blade’s metal was highly polished and seemed to have veins of purple running through it, and as soon as the sunlight played across its face it began to bubble and smoke. In moments, it was gone and only the acrid tang of dissolved metal served to remind me that it ever existed at all.

“Drowcraft. We have reason to believe that the dark elves are planning something big and that it involves the giants. The giants may not be aware of what is unfolding, but we need some place to start our investigation. If the hill giants cannot provide us the answers we need, we must be ready to press forward and proceed through the ranks of the ordning until we either learn the truth or silence the plot.”

We crested a hill and ahead stood a large and dilapidated house. Warehouse? Collection of sheds? I wasn’t quite sure. I could smell it from this distance, though, and I knew that whatever we might find inside would be a challenge.

But I knew that Silvanus watched over me, and deep down I knew that no matter how foul a plot the giants and drow might have, it could not compare to what the Thayans had wrought.

“I could not, at the time, have known how wrong I was – or how hard the next five days would be on me and my new allies. You already know part of the end, for here I stand before you in the hallowed common hall of the Yawning Portal, but the tale that I shall relate to you now is one of grand plans and dire plots and unknowable futures.”

I took a long pull from my mug, rubbed my scarred hands, winked at Durnan (unsurprisingly he did not seem to notice me as he was thoroughly fixated on wiping his mugs) and began to dazzle the young adventures of Waterdeep…

Spoilers below!

For the DM:

For the DM:

this adventure runs best with four or five characters at level 11, but AL play allows for tables of 3-7 players of levels 11-16 (tier 3)

this adventure is actually three adventures: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, and The Hall of the Fire Giant King. Depending upon how much your players wish to roleplay, each of these ‘sections’ will probably be 5-10 hours of play.

you can place Against the Giants in various places throughout the Forgotten Realms, including near the Sword Mountains or the Spine of the World. We feel that placing this adventure near the Galena Mountains gives you the best opportunity to bind it into your ongoing games, including those of season 05, Storm King’s Thunder; the PDF adventures for season 5 can easily incorporate this adventure!

magical fire effects have some pretty interesting effects in the Frost Giant Stronghold area – read that section closely

Random encounters. This adventure has the potential for a lot of random encounters. It would be helpful to pregenerate a dozen or so of these encounters so that when they happen, play is not interrupted and you can quickly deploy the encounter for the characters.

Lycanthropy. Refer to the standard Adventurers League rules regarding lycanthropy if a character becomes infected. In short: it it’s not removed at the end of the adventure, or if the character chooses to play a different adventure before curing it, that character is immediately retired from AL play until the lycanthropy is removed.

Magic items.

Waythe is a very powerful weapon and provides an excellent opportunity for a crafty DM to spur its wielder into action

this adventure can not award legendary items from hoard rolls under any circumstances

the hoard of the white dragons only contains magic items that are specifically called out in the text; all other items are mundane (though potentially quite valuable)

the flame tongue shortsword (with the detect gems ability) is tradeable in AL games; although this ability deviates from the rules presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, it is little more than a trinket power and does not disrupt organized play

the mirror of seeing remains 100 pounds, even if the adventurers claim it – it functions as a gem of seeing (including that item’s text from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and it can be traded as per normal), but is not considered to be worn equipment so it does not change its size

Obmi’s gauntlets of ogre power function exactly as printed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide; the text in Against the Giants is merely a shorthand summary of the item’s benefits

the Torturer’s +2 greataxe cannot generally be used by characters in Adventurers League play – per the adventure text, a wielder would need to be size “huge” and also have a Strength score of 25 or greater; it can, however, be traded to a certain merchant of questionable repute when he arrives at your favorite local conventions…

any spell scrolls awarded may be selected from the spells present in the Player’s Handbook (most often, the DM will pre-determine these spells)

the tome of clear thought can only be opened by characters with an 18 Intelligence or better per the adventure text

Cursed items. Cursed items are a part of D&D history and often serve a purpose in the story. However, some players might be disappointed and view this as a ‘gotcha’ moment – tread carefully. Unless the item’s description specifically states otherwise, the characters can cast identify on it (or use a downtime spellcasting activity!) and learn the item’s properties, including the curse. Once a cursed item is taken by a character and recorded on their logsheet, a remove curse spell only removes the attunement (“de-attunes” from the character) and does not undo the curse.

Thinking outside the box:

Thinking outside the box:

giants are massive creatures – consider doubling the scale of the maps (so, a square would be 20 feet instead of 10 feet)

with tables of 6-7 players, consider some ways to increase the scope of the adventure and keep everyone entertained

add 1-2 additional monsters to each combat

increase the frequency of patrols

consider granting creatures small boosts like the pack tactics ability, or granting a feat to a single creature in the encounter (though with great power comes great responsibility; tread carefully!)

at various points in these adventures, the odds may seem overwhelming. Consider encouraging your characters to make Insight or History checks and then grant them some hints or tips on how to negotiate challenges in a manner that does not entirely revolve around combat

use the random contents of a giant’s bag to spur off-the-cuff story moments

although this adventure functions very well directly from the page, consider reading about the cultural differences between the various giant tribes – Storm King’s Thunder is a great resource for this.

the drow are a significant threat that, in 1st Edition, were explored in a later series; for 5th Edition play, consider running the characters into DDAL06-03 Crypt of the Death Giants for additional details once they are done with Against the Giants

Hailing from the wilds of central Michigan, Alan has provided a warm home to a wife and two cats over the years.Of course, they all have to fight with the ever-expanding collection of beholder-related paraphernalia - and the recent arrival of his son.

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Hailing from the wilds of central Michigan, Alan has provided a warm home to a wife and two cats over the years. Of course, they all have to fight with the ever-expanding collection of beholder-related paraphernalia - and the recent arrival of his son.